After Lok Sabha booster, Haryana Congress stumbles on road to Assembly polls as factional feuds rage

Less than four months before the Haryana Assembly elections, the state Congress continues to be beset with factionalism and infighting. As a consequence, another state party in-charge, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Deepak Babaria, is now facing the heat from rival factions as they jockey to gain an upper hand ahead of the high-stakes polls.

Babaria has been handling the Haryana Congress affairs since June 2023 after he replaced Shaktisinh Gohil following the latter’s appointment as the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief.

Babaria has also been in-charge of the Delhi Congress, and had come under fire amidst the Lok Sabha elections two moths ago when Arvinder Singh Lovely, the then Delhi PCC chief, resigned, targeting him for “not letting him work”.

An AICC meeting held by Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge on June 26 to review the party’s preparedness for the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls, which was attended by Rahul Gandhi, witnessed heated exchanges between state party leaders from rival factions. Sources said Sirsa MP Kumari Selja took the lead among other leaders to take on Babaria, accusing him of being allegedly influenced by “one particular group of leaders in Haryana”. This was an apparent reference to the party faction led by Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly and ex-chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Sources said Gandhi asked all the state Congress leaders to work together to ensure the party’s victory in the Assembly polls. “At the meeting of the Haryana Congress leaders held at AICC under INC president Sh. Mallikarjun Kharge ji and former CP and LOP Sh Rahul Gandhi ji, a clear directive was issued to all leaders to avoid making any public